A RAGING bull jumped off the back of a bakkie on the N3 near New England Road and galloped into Scottsville yesterday morning.
Its owner, Sandile Ndlovu, said he had bought the bull from Cato Ridge for breeding and was taking it to his homestead in Mafakathini when it jumped off the bakkie.
Ndlovu said the young Brahman bull started bucking at the back of the vehicle and loosened the ropes it was tethered with.
“We stopped the vehicle and while we were trying to tie it up again, it jumped off and galloped into the Scottsville area.
“I gave chase on foot until it found its way into No. 22 Milborrow Road where, with the help of the occupants of the house, we managed to corner it,” said Ndlovu.
The house was owned by a former Witness cricket columnist, Peter Roebuck, who fell to his death from the window of a Cape Town hotel in 2011.
The gate was closed and the SPCA was called to the scene to tranquillise the animal.
The SPCA’s Alec Wylie told The Witness the bull was still standing after the first dose.
“We used a dart with no barb and that did not remain in the animal’s skin to enable the drug to penetrate. We darted it a second time, using a dart with a barb.
“We used a 1,5 ml of xylovet tranquilliser and it took about 15 minutes before the bull showed signs of the effectiveness of the drug.”
It took about an hour for the drug to kick in properly. But until it did, the bull continued to charge forward, resisting the efforts of its handlers to rope it.
Once the ropes had been tightly secured, the bull was given an antidote, lifted on to the vehicle and taken on its 40 km journey to Mafakathini.
